A grandmother was left shocked and frightened after seeing a gunman pointing a rifle towards her house in Gateshead. The woman was at home on Campion Gardens when she spotted Neil Cook outside with the firearm. He raised it and appeared to aim it at her home, prompting armed police to attend.
Air rifle found in bushes
Officers later found the weapon and a mug of pellets in a wooded area. It transpired the air rifle was classed as a firearm, but Cook was banned from possessing it due to previous offending. Newcastle Crown Court heard the incident occurred at around 7.45pm on June 11 last year.
Antonia Adie, prosecuting, said: "At that time he was carrying a rifle which he had with the barrell pointing downwards. He raised it and seemed to her to be pointing it in the direction of the woman through her window. He then spring cocked it and raised it in the firing position and same direction towards her home."
The woman took two photographs of him doing this. Firearms officers attended and were directed to a wooded area, where they found Cook but no weapon, and he was released. Officers later attended a nearby location after a report of an air rifle being found in some bushes, along with a mug of 0.22 pellets, one of which was loaded into the rifle.
Banned from possessing firearm
Due to the power of the air rifle, it was classified as a firearm. While it could usually have been possessed lawfully, Cook was prohibited from possessing it as a consequence of a 40-month sentence in 2009 for possessing class A drugs and threatening behaviour.
Referring to a victim impact statement by the woman who saw him pointing the rifle, Miss Adie said: "She described feeling very frightened for her grandchildren's safety because there was a man walking around with a large rifle and pointing it."
Recorder Abdul Iqbal KC said: "Understandably she must have been terrified at seeing a man in public with wha she must have believed was a live firearm behaving in that way."
Arson attack in County Durham
Cook also admitted arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered after setting fire to a house in Murton, County Durham, on March 28 this year. Cook was the victim's partner's sister's husband and he had made a threat to the woman's partner following a dispute over a vehicle.
He was on bail for the other offence at the time and a GPS tag showed he was at the fire-attacked premises at the time. He went there with another person. A fire investigation showed there were two sources of fire, started in an upstairs bedroom which was severely smoke damaged and in the kitchen, where a pile of clothes had been torched.
The property was also severely water damaged after firefighters were unable to turn the water off. Entry had been gained by Cook by damaging rear patio doors. The victim, who was pregnant at the time, said it made her feel "horrible" and she was terrified her dog, which was inside at the time, could have been hurt. She was left worried about what would have happened if her baby had been born and was in the house at the time and had to move home.
Recorder Iqbal said: "What you did was a pre-planned, premeditated, sustained attempt to cause damage as a result of a pre-existing dispute."
Cook, who has 24 previous convictions, including for drugs supply, criminal damage and driving offences, was jailed for a total of three years and ten months. Matthew Purves, defending, said the firearm would have been lawful were it not for Cook's previous offending. He added that Cook has shown he can stay out of trouble and gain employment.
